Even though game publishers are gigantic entities run by hundreds of people, it’s interesting to see how they’re gradually personified through the way they conduct business. EA may run over twenty development studios, but most people would know them for buying studios, having them put out mediocre sequels, and shutting them down. Square Enix meanwhile is known for situations like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Human Revolution revitalized the brand, and Square immediately saw the potential to make Deus Ex into a multimedia franchise. Mobile spinoffs, comics, and sequels would immediately be moved into production, attempting to capitalize on the hype as soon as possible. Mankind Divided itself was going to be the core of this push, being a huge upgrade over the first game with a bigger team and a higher budget. That was a fine plan, at least until Square Enix’s dreams of a franchise got the better of them. The game was essentially cut in half, with the idea being to use its parts for two games instead of one. The multi-hub setup was cut down to just one location, and the runtime was fifteen hours instead of twenty-four. The story comes to an abrupt conclusion halfway through, which can charitably be called a cliffhanger for the planned third installment. Naturally, this didn’t go over well, and Mankind Divided sold well below expectations. Even when the game looks beautiful, has a great city hub to explore, and fun augmentations, getting cut off in the middle of the action was a massive letdown. Instead of Square Enix taking this as a sign that the next Deus Ex should be more fleshed out, they saw it as people losing interest in the franchise, and the DLC was the last Deus Ex media that would release for (at the time of writing) five years. This really is the most painful way for a franchise to end, with the game being good enough to where fans mourn the lost potential, but bad enough to where even an unlikely sequel wouldn’t get the budget it deserves. With how Square followed the same pattern of getting ahead of themselves and killing a franchise before it really began with Avengers though, I’m not holding my breath for Deus Ex to make the comeback I’m hoping for.